Many of you have heard of Dr. Miami. He is a plastic surgeon who puts some of his surgeries on social media. Did you know his real name is Michael Salzhauer, and he is an Orthodox Jew? You can learn that and more about him in the Discovery+ documentary that is streaming now.
In They Call Me Dr. Miami, you will see how his family life is different than the one he has in front of the camera. At home, he is a religious man who takes care of his family. He is also a lot calmer than his on-camera persona that we know so well.
That bigger than life and wacky persona is something that he has been criticized for by other doctors and his family for different reasons. The documentary talks to both sides, and we find out why they have a problem with him having fun in front of the camera.
Salzhauer explains why he acts like that. He also reveals why he started posting his surgeries online for people to watch. Believe it or not, it had nothing to do with becoming famous.
The plastic surgeon also shares with us why he chose to go into this field of medicine. It has to do with his wife that he met in his college. Eva Salzahauer is the person who knows him best, and she gets candid with the cameras. She talks about who he is at home with their five children, how they became orthodox together, why he does some of the things that he does, and if she thinks he is vain.
Dr. Miami admits he can be vain and shares what plastic surgery he has done to himself. We actually see him get a procedure done on camera.
Being on camera is one part of his social media world. He also needs someone to run it. We get to see what that job entails as they go around his offices with a camera.
Since nothing is left out, we see him meet with patients. He then goes over the surgery with them before getting it done. While he has never lost a patient, he comes close to losing one while they are filming him one day. We get to hear what happens when one patient stops breathing, and they have to try to save her life.
Salzhauer got into this business to help people. One of the things we see in the documentary is how he is trying to help a procedure called the Brazilian Butt Lift be less deadly. He has not lost any patients to it, but he has known people who have.
While he wants to make people feel good about themselves, it is actually a problem with his religion. Did you know in Judaism that a person is not allowed to get plastic surgery? The body is supposed to leave Earth as it came into it. At one point, he has a philosophical discussion about it with another Jewish man.
It is not only that which could be a problem for him as an Orthodox Jewish man, but also the way he acts. When you watch him on social media, you don’t think of him as someone who observes Shabbot and being Kosher, but he is.
He is not just Dr. Miami; he is so much more. That is what makes this look into his life so interesting. The same way he gets to see people’s most innermost thoughts about their bodies, we get to see what he is really like when the cameras are not rolling. OK, they are rolling to show us that, but you know what I mean.
They Call Me Dr. Miami is a candid look at a man who is so much more than what he lets us see. I wish we get to know more people like we get to know Salzhauer in this documentary.
One last note. After watching this doc, I still plan on going to go to him if I ever decide to get some work done. In fact, it made my decision even more clear. I just better decide before he retires because he also reveals when he is planning on doing that.
